Not Vegas
by starvingfaerie
Summary: "Rory Gilmore?" a familiar voice called. Rory froze. It couldn't be. It just couldn't be. Not here. Not in Hamburg of all places… she slowly turned around. There he was. She'd tried so hard to forget about him over the last eight years. Every relationship she tried to have, a piece of him lingered.
1. Hamburg

Rory almost regretted coming to Germany alone. It would have been so much more fun to bring her mom along, where they could've made fun of the tourists together instead of Rory having to take pictures and texting them to her. It took so much longer that way. She sighed, wrapping her cardigan tighter around her chest as she walked around the park. Rory's feet were killing her; her heels were too high. She stopped for a moment and slipped them off and threw them into her bag before continuing on her walk. The wind was starting to pick up. Maybe she should dip into a bar? Wine sounded good right now…

"Rory Gilmore?" a familiar voice called. Rory froze. It couldn't be. It just _couldn't_ be. Not here. Not in _Hamburg_ of all places… she slowly turned around. There _he_ was. She'd tried so hard to forget about him over the last eight years. Every relationship she tried to have, a piece of him lingered. His blonde hair wasn't as quite as messy as it used to be, and it seemed to have darken up a bit. But that damn crooked smile was the same as it always was.

"Logan!" Rory cried, walking up to him. Logan's smile grew wider as she approached. His smile was infectious and Rory couldn't help but return it. They hugged in greeting and she nearly forgot how it was almost possible to get drunk off of someone's scent. But now there was a very smell of smoke that hadn't been there before.

"Where're you off to?" Logan asked, walking alongside her. Rory bit her lip.

"That's a good question." She laughed. "Um, food?" she suggested as her stomach growled.

"Perfect, I know just the right place." Logan smiled at her, that deadly, crooked smile. Her heart started to race as she followed him. "It's at the end of the block up here, it's this small little café. It's really good. You'll love it."

"Wait!" Rory stopped him before they went any further, she still didn't have any shoes on. Logan looked at her in surprise.

"Are you okay?" He asked. Rory nodded as she pulled her shoes out of her bag and used the brick wall for support. "Why did you take your shoes off?"

"Do you see how high these fuckers are?" Rory asked, pointing down at her shoes as they continues onwards. "I've been wearing them all day and my feet wanted a little break while I was walking in the park." She defended. Logan just shook his head and laughed. He went to grab her hand, but thought against it and slipped his hand in his pocket in instead. There was a small part of Rory that wished he did take her hand, but she squashed that shit down as soon as the thought popped in her head. What if he has a girlfriend? _No._ Rory told herself. _Just having dinner to catch up. As friends._ She sighed and followed Logan into the café. He smiled at her again. The waitress looked up and immediately sat them down at a table in the back. Logan ordered a bottle of white wine. He winked at Rory. "I remember, you don't like red." He set the menu down and looked at her with a little smirk playing on his lips. "Would you trust me to order for you, Ace?"

Rory blushed at the old nickname and her heart started running a fucking marathon. "You've never steered me wrong before." She said, surprisingly steadily. Logan nodded.

"Okay. Prepare for the best meal of your life, Ror." Her smile widened.

"I dunno, Logan, I've had some pretty fucking good meals."

"Pop tarts, chicken nuggets, and red vines don't count." He laughed.

"Hey! Add some chili cheese fries and rocky road, you got yourself a perfect meal right there, mister."

"I don't know _how_ you and your mom can eat so much and still stay as small as you two are. It blows my mind."

"It's magic." Rory smiled. The waitress came back with the bottle of wine and poured them both a glass before turning to Logan for their order. He ordered in rapid German and Rory's jaw dropped. "Since when do you know German?"

"For a couple years now." He sighed, taking a sip of his wine. "A lot of our clients are German, so instead of always working through interrupters, I figured I'd just learn the fucking language."

"Wow." Rory took a drink of her wine. "Any other languages?"

"French and Spanish."

"So cultured."

"Oh, I try." Logan said with a mock air of importance. Rory laughed and threw a piece of bread at him.

"Other than learning all of the world languages, what've you been up to for the past eight years, Huntzberger?" Rory smiled, sipping on her wine. Logan sighed and returned the smile, but it didn't reach his eyes this time.

"The company out in Palo Alto didn't work out. It went under two years after it started. I tried to find other things out in California for a little while, but nothing worked out. So.. I went back with my tail between my legs to my work for my father." he finished the rest of the wine in his glass. "But I've been doing good, I don't have to deal with him much and for the most part, people respect me and treat me as my own person, separate from my father."

"What do you mean 'for the most part'? Rory questioned, moving forward in her seat.

"The people that have been at the company longer, they just see the name. They don't see that I'm a different person, who's running things differently and who's actually a human being and cares about people and I _will never_ turn into Mitchum. If I do, Finn and Colin are on direct orders to kill me where I stand."

"Ooohhh, how are the boys?" Rory poured them both another glass of wine.

"Finn's great. He's grown up a lot since college. I mean, every once in a while, we'll go out for a week and party… but that's besides the point." Logan laughed. "He's really grown up, I'm seriously proud of him. I never thought I'd see this side of him. He's helped me through some serious shit over the last couple years. He's living in the States right now, somewhere on the east coast. He can't seem to make up his mind. Last I heard he was in New York. And that was in March. Colin's pretty good too. He's kind of just traveling right now… like everywhere. He was in China a few weeks ago. I'm not sure what he's looking for, but he's everywhere, looking for something. I think. Doing something? I don't know with him. But he's defiantly living life right now. Robert's the only normal one out of all of us. He actually settled down and got married. He has two kids, and I think another one on the way? But he's a great dad. Really sweet. I never thought I'd see him as a dad."

"What about you?" Rory asked, taking a drink of her wine, fixing her big blue eyes on him.

"What do you mean?" She knew he was dodging the question. She pressed a little further.

"There's more to life than work. Tell me more about what's going on with you." she said softly.

"You should know better than anyone, Ace, that I don't really have a life outside of my work." Logan sighed. Their waitress finally brought their food, breaking the slight tension that had fallen over their table. Rory finished the rest of her wine in her glass and poured herself a third glass before offering the bottle to Logan. He shook his head. "Okay, there's a lot here. Do you want to know what you're eating or do you just want to eat?"

"Honestly?" Rory laughed.

"You just want to eat, don't you?" Logan smirked as she nodded. "I can hear your stomach growling over here."

"Would you believe me if I said I have eaten today?" Rory said after she gulped down her first bite of food. Logan shook his head.

"You can't go two hours without eating, Ace. I can't see you going a whole day." He laughed. Rory put down her fork and looked him again.

"Food isn't going to get you off the hook from answering my question."

Logan sighed heavily and avoided Rory's eyes. "How about this? You tell me about you, then we go out of more drinks after this and I'll tell you. Sound good?"

Rory considered this for a moment as she chewed on a piece of bread. Finally, she nodded.

"Okay. Well. I wrote a book, and I had an article published in the New York Times. So that was amazing, but, really, since then, I've been freelancing. Well, no, I'm working at this one magazine. But it's not important. I've been traveling around a lot for my writing, and it's really fun! I've gotten to see some really cool places and really cool things. But I end up in London most of the time, but I'm okay with that, because I _really_ like London."

"How's your mom and Luke?"

"They're great! My mom's still running around at the inn every day, drinking more than enough coffee to hydrate a baby whale. Luke will be running his diner until the day that he dies. The only thing he loves more than that diner is my mom." Rory laughed. "But all in all, really, everyone's pretty much the same—other than the fact that mom and Luke finally got their shit straight and got together."

"That's good!" Logan smiled. "I always wondered when that would happen."

"Took them long enough, right?" Logan laughed. Rory finished the rest of her wine before joining in.

"Right!"

* * *

About two hours later, the waitress tapped on Logan's shoulder and said something quietly. She looked kind of annoyed. Logan nodded as he answered back quickly. He turned to face Rory.

"They close in ten minutes." He explained, gently placing his napkin on top of his long empty plate. Rory started stacking the emptied plates while they waited for the waitress to come back with their check. Logan watched her in amazement. "What're you doing?"

"This'll make it easier for her to clear the table." She said, smiling at him.

"Do you want to come back to my hotel for drinks?" Logan asked as he handed the waitress his card without looking at the bill. His full attention was on Rory and it made her blush. She smiled, knowing damn well where this would end up and she couldn't bring herself to care. Her cheeks burned as she pulled her hair down and slipped her cardigan back on.

"I would love to." her smile widened. "I'm hot, I'm gonna go wait outside, okay?"

"Okay, I'll be there in a minute." Logan winked at her before she turned away from him. Rory pulled out her phone and considered texting her mom or Lane or Paris about who she'd run into, but they'd immediately call, wanting to know all the details and the night's not over yet. She sighed and put her phone back in her purse, she'd call her mom first thing in the morning. Rory felt a gentle hand on the small of her back and she jumped.

"Oh, did I scare you? I'm sorry!" Logan's hand was warm as he moved it gently from her back, to her hip, to the tips of her fingers. He looked up at her, asking permission with his eyes and Rory grabbed his hand and squeezed. She missed being touched like this. No one's ever touched her like this. Not any of the guys she was with before Logan and certainly none of the guys she's been with since they broke up. Rory sighed softly. She didn't need drugs; Logan was addicting enough. "My hotel's just up here." He pulled her closer to him. "You're very quiet, Ace. Are you okay?"

"Yeah, I'm just thinking." She smiled, happy for his warmth. She was surprised how _right_ this felt and realized with a start that no matter how hard she tried to get over him over the past eight years… she couldn't deny it when he was literally staring her right in the face. She was still just as in love with him now as she was back then.


	2. Drinks

Logan felt like he was in a dream right now. There was no way that he'd just had dinner with Rory Gilmore of all people, and now they were about to have drinks. His heart starting racing as he pulled out a seat for her at the bar. He briefly felt the warmth of the bare skin of her back as she took off her cardigan and gently set on the bar next to her. He longed for more. Her big blue eyes followed him as he sat down. The bartender walked over and smiled at them.

"What can I get for you?"

Rory chewed on her lip for a second. "Erm, do you have stemmari baci vivaci?" she asked. The bartender smiled and nodded before turning to Logan.

"Scotch?" He asked politely. They received their drinks within minutes and Rory smiled as soon as she took a sip of her wine.

"I love this wine." She laughed.

"Can I ask you a question, Rory?" Logan asked after taking a long drink of his scotch.

Rory paused in the middle of putting her hair up. "I guess so." She said slowly before pulling her hair into a very messy bun. Logan was reminded of college, when she would pile her hair up on top of her head as she prepared for an all nighter. He looked at her hands and remembered her fingers quickly braiding her hair every night as she sat on the bed, a textbook perched in her lap as she rambled on about her day. He looked down and noticed that she had kicked her shoes off and thought about her walking around their apartment barefoot, book in hand, as she tripped over the couch. Her shoes on the ground and her cardigan on the table made him think of clothes thrown across the apartment because they couldn't get them off of each other fast enough. More than once, they'd ripped an article of each other's clothing.

And if he was being completely honest with himself, Logan would love to rip that red dress off of her right now.

"Logan?" Rory pulled him out of his thoughts. "You had a question?" she patted his hand softly. "Where'd you go?"

"Just thinking." he brought he hand up to his lips and gently kissed it. "You don't have to answer, really. But I'm just curious."

"Okay."

"Why'd you say no?"

"Oh, I was afraid you were going to ask that." Rory sighed and fished the rest of her wine in one go before talking. "I just… I felt like we were too young. I did see myself marrying you at some point, just not then. It felt… rushed. I wasn't ready. I didn't think you were ready either. I think if we got married back then, it wouldn't've worked out. We had this beautiful thing going for us, Logan, and we should've let it grow a little longer before trying to push it further. You know?" She smiled sadly at him. "We could've made the long distance thing work out, you know. We made it work when you were in London and I was still at Yale. There was an ocean between us." She moved closer to him. "But I can say with absolute certainty that I have never once, not even for a minute, stopped loving you. I was _so_ mad at you for a while. How could you walk out on everything that we had, you know? I really thought we were forever. I thought you were it for me. And then I realized I'll feel a lot better if I just forgive you and I did. But I also thought I'd never see you again. I tried burying my feelings for you. I haven't had many relationships over the last eight years, but the few I have had, haven't lasted. Because they're not you." Rory looked at Logan with her blue eyes, wide and a little wet. Her eyeliner was smudged and her cheeks were flushed. In the soft light of the bar, Logan realized that he'd never seen a more beautiful sight. He raised his hand and gently rested it on her cheek. She leaned into it and closed her eyes, smiling slightly. Then she sat back up and looked at him intently. "I dunno, maybe I'm saying this because I'm a little drunk and I'm going to regret it all in the morning, or maybe it'll all work out for me." She laughed. Logan couldn't take it anymore.

"Rory?" he said suddenly.

"Yes?"

"Is it okay if I kiss you?"

Rory blinked. "You don't have to ask." She laughed, running her hands through his hair. "I've been waiting for you to kiss me all night."

She tasted like sweet wine and happiness. Her warmth filled every bit of ice in his body that had formed over the last eight years. All of his broken pieces fell back into place and he didn't feel like he was lost anymore. He had finally found his home, and it was with her. Feeling her smile against his lips was the greatest feeling in the world. Logan wanted to live in this moment. Too soon, Rory pulled away.

"Hey! I was enjoying that!" he protested. She laughed and sat back down.

"You can have another one once you answer my question." She smiled.

"You don't play fair, Ace."

"Never said I did." Rory stuck her tongue out at him. Logan pulled her chair closer and started tracing patterns on her arm with his fingers. He just wanted to touch her to know that she was real. She shivered. "I told you how I've been doing the last couple years." She started. "How've you been doing?" she asked softly before waving the bartender down. "Could we please get another round?"

"It's been rough. I've always believed that you get one Great Love in your life, and you're mine. I've been so mad at myself for walking away from you. Especially because I never thought that it'd happen to me in the first place. Honor almost killed me when she found out what I did. Like you, there've been a few other girls. But I can't make anything last. No one could ever even hope to compare to _the_ Rory Gilmore. You're the only woman that made me believe in commitment and it worked. You changed me for the better. I feel like in a way, you helped shape the person I am today." He took a sip of the scotch that the bartender had just put in front of him. "But I had no right to push that fucking proposal on you. You're right, we were young and I don't think I was ready. I think I thought I was ready, but I guess I was just blinded by love." Logan sighed and looked at Rory as she was taking a drink of wine. A couple strands of hair had fallen from her bun, framing her face. She carefully set the glass down and turned to face him. "But I can also say, Rory, that I have never, ot even for a second, stopped loving you. I don't remember what it's like to not love you."

Rory's pale skin was pink and she sounded a little breathless when she spoke. "Hey, Logan?"

"Hey, Ace?"

"Do you wanna show me your room?" she looked at me from the corner of her eye as she gulped down the rest of her wine. I laughed.

"I would love nothing more than to show you my room." Logan rushed to pay the bill and grabbed Rory's hand to pull her towards to elevators. She pushed the up button repeatedly. "What's the rush for, Ace?" he teased her, poking at her sides a little. Rory laughed.

"Nothing, I've just heard that this hotel has really cool rooms and I wanna see what yours looks like." She said as they walked onto the elevator.

"Riiiiiight." Logan laughed and pulled her closer as he pushed the button for the top floor. "It couldn't have anything to do with—" he kissed her neck lightly, trailing kisses up to her jaw. "wanting to see my bed?"

"Or your shower, or comfy chairs, or any walls that look particularly interesting." She smiled, grabbing a handful of his hair. Logan smiled and lightly bit her, earning a quiet moan before the elevator doors opened. He missed this, her reactions, the way their bodies worked together, the way he body reacted to his. He knew just what to do to make her scream, moan, shake, scratch, bite. As soon as Logan found his room, he unlocked it as quickly as he could, Rory threw her shoes, cardigan, and purse and the table by the door and then pushed Logan up against the closed door. He moaned and she pulled his shirt over his head. He didn't want to stop kissing her, even for a second. He needed her like he needed oxygen. He fumbled for a second for the zipper on the back of her dress, but it was too late, he had accidently torn the sides of it when he picked her up to put her on the counter. He pulled the dress of her head and stopped kissing her for a second to marvel at her beauty.

"What?" Rory asked, blushing.

"You're just so beautiful. I'm sorry." Logan smiled and picked her up again to carry her to the bed. He kissed her deeply for a couple minutes before trailing kisses down her chest, stomach, across her hips, and resting between her legs. Her eyes widened and her hands tangled themselves in his hair.

* * *

The sun was starting to rise and Logan watched Rory walk around in a fluffy pink bathrobe while he sat in bed drinking a cup of coffee. As he watched her, he realized there was no where he'd rather be than here with Rory. Not that he'd always none that, but physically being here with her and seeing her and holding her and kissing her, made him realize that the idea of being with anyone else… with _her,_ was unbearable.

But that was a talk he and Rory would have to have soon. He knew why he was putting off asking if she was seeing anyone. It would hurt too much. Logan smiled as he watched Rory sit on the edge of the bed and brush her hair out, getting ready to braid it. She changed the channel on the tv to cartoons and crossed her legs as her fingers quickly and expertly went to work. _She was way too quick to jump into bed with me if she was seeing someone._ Logan thought, putting his coffee on the bedside table and crawling down to sit next to her. _Then again, I'm technically engaged and look at me._ He pushed _her_ out of his mind and grabbed the front of her robe to pull her down to him and kissed her deeply.

"I missed you." he whispered.

"I missed you, too." She kissed his forehead. "I missed having someone touch me the way you do. You know? Like, loving and kind of just idly doing it. I don't know how to explain it, but I missed it."


	3. Conversations

Rory pulled the hood of her sweater up as it slowly started to rain and pulled out her phone to call her mom. She balanced the phone between her shoulder and ear as the dug in her purse for headphones. Suddenly she heard her mom's voice.

"Ah, Rory! I was beginning to worry! I haven't heard from you in a few days, I was considering sending a search party all the way to Germany to look for you." Lorelai answered. Rory laughed.

"No need for a search party." She smiled, putting one of her headphones in and plugging it into her phone. "But I'm sorry I haven't called, but I've been a little busy."

"I'm sure you are." Lorelai laughed. "How's your conference?"

"Over tomorrow. But that's not why I've been busy." Rory smiled and looked around in her bag for an umbrella as the rain started coming down harder. She fount it at the very bottom of her bag, pulled it out, and opened it. "I ran into someone from school, actually."

"Who'd you run into?"

"Um," Rory paused, not sure if her mom would be as excited as she was. "Okay, I ran into Logan."

"Logan?" Lorelai repeated. "Huntzberger? As in the Logan that proposed to you at your graduation party, Logan?"

"The very same." Rory smiled.

"And? What happened? And what is he doing in Hamburg?" Lorelai asked in a rush.

"Um, well, he has clients out here." Rory answered slowly. "But I was walking around in a park and suddenly heard someone call my name and I turned around I freaked the fuck out because _oh my god_ , it was Logan fucking Huntzberger." Rory gushed. "And obviously we haven't seen each other in like, eight years, and honestly, the way we left things was… not great."

"You refused his proposal and he walked away from you." her mom pointed out. "I would call that leaving things on a very bad note."

"Well, yeah. So we went out to dinner and this great café and I found out that he speaks German, then we went out for drinks, then I ended up spending the night with him at his hotel."

"So, like, you slept with him?" Lorelai clarified. Rory blushed as she shook off her umbrella before ducking into a bar.

"Er… yes."

"Oh, Rory." She sighed.

"What?"

"It's just… this isn't going to turn into anything more, is it? Like, this is just… once, because you ran into each other in Germany? You're not going to keep this up, are you?" her mom said carefully.

"I don't know, mom." Rory replied slowly. "Why?"

"I just don't want to see you hurt again, kid."

"Well, I mean, even if we do make this a thing again… we're older now, you know?" Rory defended. Lorelai sighed again.

"Where's he living right now, anyway?" she asked.

"London." Rory answered quickly. "Which is actually really good because I'm in London a lot."

"Rory, just don't jump into this, alright?" Lorelai warned. "Be careful."

"Okay." She promised. Her phone beeped, indicating she had another call. "Hold on, mom, someone else is calling." She pulled her phone out of her pocket and saw Logan's name flashing on the screen. She smiled. "It's Logan."

"Oh, okay. I'll let you go. I love you, kid." Lorelai said quickly. "Oh! When do you get home."

"Wednesday." Rory answered. "I love you too, mommy." Her mom hung up and she quickly answered Logan's call.

"Hello?"

"Hey, Ace." It was so nice to hear his voice on her phone again. She smiled.

"What's up?" she grabbed her wallet out of her bag and walked up to the bar, intending to order something to eat.

"Not much. I was just missing you and the client I was supposed to meet with for lunch today cancelled and I was curious if you were free for lunch?" She could hear the smile in his rushed words.

"Possibly." She answered, putting her wallet in her bag. "Where're you at right now?"

"Back at my hotel. I can send a car for you if you need it."

"No, I'm close enough to walk. Meet you in… ten minutes in the lobby?"

"Why not come up to my room?" Logan asked playfully.

"Because I'm staving." Rory laughed.

"We can order room service." He suggested.

"I'm sure we could…" she said slowly. "No, we need to talk. We can go back to your room after lunch."

"Everything okay, Ace?" he asked. "Not a lot of good conversations start with 'we need to talk'." He sounded worried.

"Don't worry, Logan. Everything's fine." She assured him.

"Can you at least tell me what you want to talk about? "

"I'm walking up now, are you in the lobby?"

"Not yet, but I will be in a minute."

"Okay, hurry up." Rory said, opening the door.

"I'll see you in minute, Ace." He sounded rushed as he hung up the phone. She walked into the lobby and sat down in one of the comfortable chairs by the door, impatiently shaking her leg, thinking of how she was going to ask him where they should go from here. _If_ they should go anywhere from here. She really wanted this to work, to continue, to go as far as it could. She really missed him over the last eight years, and from what he told her last night, she could tell that he also missed her. Maybe they could make something work. Suddenly she felt a hand on her shoulder.

"Hey there, Ace." Logan said quietly, smiling down at her. He offered Rory a hand and pulled her closer to him, pulling her in for a kiss. They broke apart and Logan rested his head against hers. "Are you sure you don't want to go upstairs?"

"No." Rory smiled. "But we have to talk about something."

"You're really starting to worry me with that, Ace." Logan said, taking her hand and leading her out of the hotel. "What is it that we have to talk about?"

Rory paused. "Well, I called my mom earlier. I was actually on the phone with my mom when you called, and she bought up a fair point. Have these last couple days just be a thing because we ran into each other here and it's never going to happen again? Or is it going to continue?" she said in a rush. "Because I really like this, I missed you so much and I don't really want to lose you again because seeing you everyday has made me the happiest I've been in a while and I don't want that ripped that away from me again."

"I guess it depends on you, Rory." He squeezed her hand, turning her down another street. "I really do want this continue, more than anything in the world." He smiled and kissed her temple. "I honestly still can't believe that I ran into you here, of all places." They stopped and Logan turned to face her. "I never thought I'd see you again." He smiled. "I can't believe my luck. So… I mean, if you'd have me, it'd love to continue this."

"Nothing would make me happier." Rory smiled and kissed him before looking around. "Where are we, by the way?"

"Can I surprise you ever, Ace?" Logan sighed. Rory shook her head. "Well too bad."

"Well, I don't know, you could be kidnaping me." She said, poking him in the side.

"You'd have a weird case for kidnapping, if that was the case." He laughed. " _You_ came to visit me at my hotel and you're allowing me to take you to lunch.."

"No, that's actually how a lot of kidnappings start." Rory said matter of factually. "The victim meets the kidnapper at a previously approved spot, but the kidnapper actually has other _sinister_ plans in mind. And thus, the unsuspecting victim gets whisked away to never be seen again! They're either killed, or raped, or held for ransom that _could_ get paid but the victim still doesn't get returned home! Sometimes it's all of the above." She said, staring at him. Logan sighed.

"Oh my god." He rolled his eyes. "You're ridiculous." He said, leading her into the restaurant. "I didn't know you were an expert on kidnapping." He turned around and shot her a look. "Should I be worried, Ace?"

"Yes, I have three young children in my basement right now. I'm currently waiting on the ransom money. Collectively, it's about 3.2 mil." Rory said seriously.

"I always knew there was a darker side of you, Gilmore." Logan laughed, pulling her into the restaurant.

"Damn, I thought I was hiding it so well." She smirked.

"Almost slipped it past me, not gonna lie." He said as they walked up to hostess.

"Two?" she asked, grabbing menus.

"Yes, please." Rory answered, bouncing on the balls of her feet. The hostess nodded, grabbed two menus, and led them to a table in the back.

"Thank you." Logan said politely as the hostess placed the menus on the table. He waited for Rory to sit down in her chair, pushed her in a little and sat down across from her.

"This isn't all fancy food like we had the other night, is it?"

"No, it's like regular café food." He smiled. "Look at the menu." He gestured at the piece of weighted paper in front of her. Rory picked it up and scanned it.

"That's great and all, but I can't read it." She handed him the menu. "You're the one that knows German."

"Oh right." Logan smiled at her. "Okay, Ace, how does…" he looked over the menu quickly. "Eintopf sound?" he said after a while. Rory raised her eyebrows.

"What's that?"

"Soup."

"Okay, that sounds good!" She smiled. He waved the waitress over and ordered for them. After she left, Logan turned to her.

"So, on the subject of us being together." He started. "I want this more than anything, but I just thought of something. You live in New York and I live in London."

"That could complicate things, you're right…" she paused, not looking at him. "I know this is a silly question, but… like, you _can_ do this, right? You're single." She said quietly. He didn't say anything for a moment. "Logan." There was a hint of pleading in her voice. "Please tell me you are."

"It's complicated, Ace." He said finally.

"No, there's no 'it's complicated'. _Fuck,_ Logan! It's a yes or no question!" Rory was trying not to raise her voice, but it was quickly failing.

"Things aren't always black and white, Rory."

"I know that, but it is right now!"

"Just please hear me out." He begged. "Please?"

Rory didn't say anything for a minute, just stared down at the table in front of her with tears burning in her eyes. Finally she looked up.

"Fine."

"It's an arranged marriage with this French heiress and I." He sighed. "Essentially, a contract between the companies of our fathers. I mean nothing to her, she means nothing to me."

"I will not be a side piece."

"I'm not asking you to be! Just let me finish, please, Rory." Logan pleaded. "She's still in Paris, absolutely in love with some artist out there." He reached across the table to hold her hand. Rory moved her hand to her lap. "I'm sure it would be a relief to her if I broke it off. She dreading it just as much, if not more than I am."

"So that's what you're going to do?" She asked, looking up.

"Yeah." Logan said quietly. "Honestly, it's what's better for the both of us. And you know it's always been you, Ace. You're what makes me happy. Not being forced into this arranged marriage."

"What will Mitchum do?"

"Who the fuck cares?"


	4. Resolutions

Logan paced back and forth in front of his hotel, smoking his third cigarette. Rory was inside at the bar on her fourth glass, possibly fifth by now. The fighting was over, or at least the worst of it was. He sighed and threw it on the ground and walked inside. She was sitting at the bar, staring into her wine, looking lost. She was idly playing with the stem of the rose colored glass.

"Ace." He said quietly. Rory jumped slightly as he slid into his seat. The bartender handed him a scotch and walked away. Logan looked at Rory. "I'm sorry."

"You should've told me when we were at dinner." She said softly. "It doesn't matter that she means nothing to you, that you mean nothing to her or that it's arranged. You still hid it from me. I deserve to know." she took a drink of her wine. "It's not fair." She finished the glass.

Logan nodded. "You're right. I shouldn't have hid it. I was… I was just so happy to see you. To be with you, I didn't really think about her." He ran his hand through his hair.

"What's her name?" Rory asked after a minute.

"It doesn't matter, Ace." Logan said, covering her hand with his. She didn't flinch away from his touch this time, which he took as a good sign and he moved a little closer to her. "Like I said, she doesn't matter." He kissed her cheek. "It will all be taken care of soon enough."

"How soon is soon enough?"

"As soon as I get back to London." He promised.

"Which is?"

"Friday." He took a drink of the scotch in front of him before gesturing at Rory's empty glass. "Do you want another glass?"

"It's fine, I probably drank the whole bottle." She pushed the glass away from her and looked at him. "How much did you smoke?"

"Just three."

"Also when did you start smoking?"

"When I was forced into this arranged marriage. Everything got a lot more stressful." Logan looked away from her, not wanting to talk about this anymore. They'd been fighting since lunch and Logan hated thinking and talking about _her._ Honestly, _she_ wasn't that bad. Maybe in another life, they could work. But he doubted that. In every life he lived, he wanted to be with Rory. He would find her. He sighed. "I'll quit once this mess is over."

"I didn't say anything, I was just curious." Rory said, squeezing his hand. She sighed. "I'm sorry for the yelling." She looked down at their interlinked hands on the bar. Her hair was starting to fall out of its bun and her cheeks were flushed. She looked tired and worn out. He didn't say anything at first, just looked at her. He had deserved the yelling. He was wrong for not telling Rory about _her_ and honestly, at some points of their fight, it felt like she was yelling at him for walking out all those years ago. Which he also deserved. He pulled her closer and kissed her forehead.

"Don't be. I'm sorry for not telling you." Logan said quietly. "Can I ask you a question?"

"Logan…" she sighed.

"I promise, it's nothing bad." He said quickly. "I'm just curious. You don't even have to answer if you don't want to."

"Okay then." Rory took a small sip of his scotch.

"Even if I had told you the other night when we had dinner and explained the whole situation, would you have come back here with me?" Logan asked. She didn't say anything for a couple minutes, just tapped her fingers on the bar, looking anywhere but at him.

"Um…" she bit her lip. "Is it bad if I say yes?" she finally answered.

"No." Logan felt a small smile growing on his lips, so he quickly took a drink of his scotch to hide it. He finished the drink and set it down carefully on the bar before looking her in the eyes and allowing himself to really smile. "I promise you, Ace, this will all be over soon."

"Good." Rory sighed. "I won't be someone's… mistress." She cringed at the word and Logan frowned.

"I wouldn't ask you to. You deserve better than that." He said softly, bringing her hand to his lips to kiss her fingertips. She smiled.

"I know." she looked around. "Wanna go up to your room?"

"What are you suggesting, Ace?" Logan asked, standing up and following Rory to the elevators.

"Oh, I dunno. Movies, room service?" she raised her eyebrows. "And these clothes are still a little damp from the rain on the walk over here. I feel like I should get out of them before I get sick." She smiled a little as she pushed the button for the elevator.

Rory had fallen asleep on the bed, tangled up in the blankets. She was holding on tightly to the shirt that she had taken off of him earlier. Logan smiled as he pushed the hair out of her face. She smiled in her sleep before rolling over, continuing to hug his shirt. He laughed, walking away to clean the table off from their dinner earlier. He took a few more bites of cold mac and cheese and grimaced before putting it back on the tray. He froze as he heard his phone vibrate on the counter. Only two people could be calling him this late and he didn't want to hear from either one of them. He slowly walked over to his phone, his heart pounding in his chest. He groaned internally. _Her_ name flashed on the screen. If he didn't answer, she was going to keep calling. Logan picked it up and answered it.

"One sec." he said quietly. He grabbed the notepad and wrote a quick note to Rory before grabbing a shirt and slipping on shoes before gently closing the door behind him. Logan didn't hear anything on the other line other than heels clicking on the floor. "Okay. Why are you calling so late?"

"Why are you so quiet?" She asked.

"I… ran into someone I used to know. She's staying with me tonight." Logan said. "What's up?"

"Is it the famous Rory you've told me about?" She asked excitedly.

"We'll talk about it on Saturday." He opened the door and stepped outside into the cold air.

"That's what I wanted to talk to you about, actually." She said. "Adrien has an art exhibit opening that day and I have to be there for it."

"That's fine." Logan wasn't really looking forward to seeing her in the first place. "What time can you do next week?"

"Um, Monday?" he voice was distant now. "I need to be there for the opening weekend."

"Okay," he nodded, throwing his cigarette in the trashcan and walking back inside. "I'll see you Monday. Have fun at his art exhibit." He hung up his phone and ran over to the open elevator. He pushed the button for the top floor. When he finally got back to his room, Rory was still asleep. Her hair was covering her face and the blankets are half on her, half on the floor. Logan laughed and took his phone out of his pocket to take a picture of her. It was just such a cute sight; he didn't want to forget it. He brushed her hair out of her face before carefully fixing the blankets so she was fully covered. Rory curled up into a ball under the blankets. Logan kissed her forehead before walking over to the table where his papers were spread out. He suppressed a yawn as he pulled the chair out and sat down. He had a meeting with a couple clients tomorrow afternoon and he wasn't as prepared as he should be, or would normally be. Logan didn't mind the extra work if it meant he got to spend extra time with Rory.

"Logan..." Rory whispered from the bed. He heard the blankets ruffling and figured she talking in her sleep. He smiled and tried to focus on the papers in front of him. Names and numbers swam before his eyes, trying to remember something, anything. But nothing was sticking and his eyes kept wondering to the sleeping Rory on the bed. He sighed and turned his back to her. He really needed to get a little work done before his meeting tomorrow. Logan tried to focus on the scratching of his pen on the paper, not the slow breathing coming from the bed.

"What're you doing?" a quiet voice whispered in his ear.

"Trying to work." Logan said, pulling Rory to his lap. "But you've been making it so hard to do so…"

"I've been asleep!"

"Yeah, but you're so cute when you sleep! See?" he grabbed his phone and showed her the picture from earlier. Rory blushed.

"Creeper. Taking pictures of me while I sleep."

"I couldn't resist." He kissed her cheek. "You hungry for breakfast?"

"Not like, breakfast breakfast." Rory sighed and ran her hand through Logan's hair. "Like, pop tarts, you know?"

"Strawberry pop tarts?"

"You know me so well."

"I think I saw some at the convenience store across the street. Want to come with me?" He asked, pulling Rory closer. She smiled.

"Yeah, I just have to put real clothes on."

"Are you sure?" Logan asked, tugging on her robe. "I think you look perfectly fine in this…."

"I know you do." Rory laughed. "But I can't go to the store in a robe!" she kissed him quickly before standing up and grabbing his shirt off of the bed and slipping on some shorts. She turned to face him. "Come on, love."

"I'm coming, Ace."

* * *

Logan walked into the restaurant that was way too fancy for a lunch meeting and looked around for a minute. He'd tried to look over his papers again while Rory was getting ready for the last day of her conference, but it was so easy to be distracted by her. He could barely remember the names of the clients he was meeting. He looked around a group of men with papers spread around the table. One of the men looked up and waved him over. As he got closer, the man stood up and extended his hand to shake his.

"Logan Huntzberger?" he asked in a heavy French accent. Logan forced a smile and nodded. "Benoit Moreau," he pointed to himself, then gestured to the man next to him. He was introducing everyone, thank god. "Dimitri Roux, and" the pointed to the last man at the table. "Gabriel Dupont." Everyone nodded and gave a smile at their name.

Logan sat down and waved a waitress over. "Can I have a scotch please?" he asked nicely. The girl nodded and rushed off to the bar. He looked at the people in front of him, suddenly aware of the lack of sleep he got last night. "Good afternoon. I'm so sorry I'm late. I got accidently made a wrong turn two blocks down." He opened his briefcase and took out all the papers he was supposed to read, but hadn't, and because of this, he was very unprepared for this meeting.

"It's okay! We just got here ten minutes ago." Gabriel said, taking his pen out. "First off, I'd like to congratulate you on your engagement to Odette!" He smiled widely, reaching to shake his hand. There were more congratulations around the table and Logan cringed.

"Yes," he said through gritted teeth. "Thank you so much. We're both very excited about the wedding." He continued mechanically. They'd agreed on an answer whenever things like this happened.

"When's the wedding?" Benoit asked. Logan sighed.

"Next June." The waitress finally set his scotch down in front of him and he drank all of it in one gulp and asked for another one. He hated talking about the wedding. "Okay, so, the paper out in Paris…" he began, hoping they'd drop the subject.

"Is the wedding going to be in Paris?" Dimitri asked. Logan sighed.

"Yes." He was starting to get a headache. "But Odette's taking care of most of the planning because she's still in Paris."

"Oh, you're not living together?"

Fuck. He'd said too much. "Not yet." He ran his hand through his hair. "Can we get to the actual meeting, please?"

"Right .. Okay." Gabriel shot him a look. Logan sighed and downed the rest of his scotch. This was going to be a long meeting.

* * *

Two hours later, Logan walked out of the restaurant with a pounding headache. He pulled out his phone and dialed Rory's number.

"Hi, baby." Her voice was far away.

"Good evening, Ace." Even he could hear how tired he sounded.

"How was your meeting?" she asked.

"Didn't go the way I wanted it to." Logan sighed. "The exact opposite, actually. Are you out of your conference?"

"Oh, I'm sorry." She sounded worried. "I'm at my hotel, grabbing the last bit of my stuff. I figured I could stay with you tonight since I leave tomorrow night." She sighed.

"Oh shit. I forgot you were leaving tomorrow." He could feel his headache getting worse.

"I know. I almost forgot, too. Then my mom texted me, I think she thought I was going to forget." Rory laughed. "Do you want to meet for lunch or the hotel?"

"Hotel sounds good." Logan sighed.

"Are you okay?" her voice was gentle. He smiled.

"Yeah. I just have a killer headache and you know, my meeting went horribly."

"Okay, well, I'll meet you at the hotel, and I'll make everything better." She promised.

"Alright, see you soon, Ace." Logan smiled.


End file.
